1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to an apparatus for organizing and dispensing scientific tools and more particularly to sorting and organizing tips for chemical pipettes prior to dispensing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In laboratories engaged in biotechnology and other chemical endeavors, scientists and technicians use a type of precise volumetric instrument to aliquot very small volumes of samples. This type of volumetric instrument is typically called a "micropipette". They are manufactured by all the major manufactures of scientific equipment.
Each aliquoting activity requires the use of a plastic, disposable tip to avoid contamination from one solution to another. The replacement tip for the micropipette is, as might be expected, manufactured by the same company that manufactures the instrument. For economic reasons, tips are purchased in bulk and prepared, by installing in suitable tip holders, in the laboratory by technicians on a daily basis. Once filled the tip holders are sterilized in an autoclave and distributed to the users. The project is quite time consuming, particularly in an active laboratory where hundreds of tips could easily be consumed on a regular daily basis. It is not unheard of for a technician to spend one hour of his day simply loading tip holders.
There has been suggested and perhaps available, the use of pre-packaged pipette tips however such tips are expensive and still have to be unwrapped and installed in a tip holder. In addition, all pre-packaged tips availabe at the present time are packaging heavy; as a result, a large quantity of plastic wastes are generated. The typical tip holder is a container with a cover and a shelf having apertures where the tips are stored until picked up by the pipette. The tips are use and then discarded. Since the types sizes and capacity of the tips varies greatly, each holder must be designed to handle each make, model and capacity of tip.
U.S. Patents issued show various forms of dispensing and means for orientation prior to dispensing of pipette tips or other articles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,149 issued Oct. 8, 1974 to Zeller for a combination golf emblem and tee dispenser having a means for orienting the tee in the dispenser. A U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,574 issued Aug. 31, 1976 to Thomas discloses an actuator system for a dispensing pipette and discloses in detail the mechanism and mode of operation of the dispensing pipette. A mechanically actuated pipette dispenser is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,586 issued Mar. 20, 1984 to Columbus. The two references most pertinent to the invention presented herein are the U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,021 issued Mar. 31, 1992 to Mussi et al. for a pipette dispenser package which is typical of the manner of bulk distribution of pipette tips, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,965 issued May 12, 1992 to Allen et al for an apparatus for feeding pipette tips to the pipette of associated automatic analyzer.
The prior art is not known to have solved the problem of quickly and efficiently filling pipette tip holders and the present invention claims to have found a means for to perform that service with an apparatus heithertofore unknown in the field of pipette tip dispensing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is an apparatus directed to the orientation, spacing and stacking of pipette tips for future dispensing into a tip holding apparatus. The invention consists of five fundamental parts, the first being the hopper where the bulk tips are deposited. The bottom wall of the hopper contains a sieve which contains a plurality of diamond shaped apertures which separate the tips and orient the them in a vertical mode where they drop through the sieve and into the longitudinal troughs in the second part. The troughs in part two are open to the troughs of part three and at the appropriate time the tips are moved along each trough from the separator into the organizer of part three. The organizer performs two functions, first, teeth like edges of the organizer bar space the tips and align them over the collection tubes in part four of the invention. Secondly, the organizer trough opens and allows the tips to drop into the collecting tubes of the storage cassette, which is housed in the fourth section. The last or fifth section is located at the base of the collection tubes and provides a means for releasably securing the tips in the tubes. The tip ejector consists of a flexible membrane covering the base of the tubes with an aperture coinciding with tube where the aperture is slightly larger than the tip within the tube. A second membrane abuts the first membrane and has apertures substantially larger than those of the first membrane but the edge of each aperture is offset and overlaps the aperture in the first membrane thereby preventing the tip to simply fall out of the collector tube. In operation a tip holder is placed against the membrane and a small up force is applied, stretching the membrane and thereby enlarging the aperture and allowing an entire layer of tips to drop out into the holder which is lowered and removed, filled with fresh tips, from the apparatus.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a new and improved pipette tip dispenser.
It is another object of the invention to provide a new and improved pipette tip dispenser that will separate and organize bulk quantities of pipette tips.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a new and improved pipette dispenser that is simple to operate.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a new and improved pipette tip dispenser that quickly and efficiently fills tip holding storage containers.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a new and improved pipette tip dispenser which is of a durable and reliable construction.
It is another object of the invention to provide a new and improved pipette tip dispenser which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed without generating plastics in bulk.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.